Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-08-12
A TERRIBLE DROUGHT.
THE GREAT NORTHWEST COM
PLETELY PARCHED UP.


CITATION COMPLETELY BURNED
UP-THE EFFECT UPON STOCK
APPALLING-GREAT DANGER OF
FIRE, ETC.
CHICAGO, Aug. S.-A local pa.
per, summing up the many reports
received by it of drought, prairie
fires, ruined crops, &c, says this
morning: There is an area of per.
haps 10000 square miles in the
northwest where the dust lies heav-
lily upon the earth. The district is
bounded by Madison on the north,
Bloomington on the south, Lake
Michigan on the east and the Mis-.
sssippi river on the west. 1t is
within the limits OF these bound.
aries that vegetation has lost its
normal strength and the earth its
moisture. Day after day the sun
sends Its burning rays upon the
parched farms and fields. Leaves
are falling from the trees, the grass
in the meadows has grown yellow
and white, and the streams in
which the cattle used to slake their
thirst are as dry as powder horns.
NO RAIN FOR TEN WEEKS.
1t has been nearly ten weeks
since q soaking rain fell in this dis.
tnct. The big bull thistle-the
pest of nearly every farm-has at
last succumbed to the fate OF all
other vegetation. The big weed
wilted, then turned black and final
ly fell upon the earth. With not
enough moisture in the ground to
feed a thistle, the condition of corn
and the tender grass may be i'm
agined. In Southern Wisconsin
there are thousands of acres where
corn will not yield a peck to the
acre. The crop has been scorched
and almost totally destroyed. The
leaves of the cereal are yellow and
broken and drCop almost to the
ground. The loss of the corn crop,
serious as it is, will not impoverish
the farmers. They have lived in
the country since the land was first
titled and have for the most part
laid by enough money to carry them
through a winter. But there are
other dangers to be confronted
Wells have run dry, and in some
| towns
WATER FAMINES ARE IMMINENT.
The drinking water at hand is
often polluted and filed with pois.
onous germs. Typhoid fever is be-
coming more prevalent, and dysen-
terry and other stomach disturbances
are so common in some places as to
be almost epidemic. Unless rain
falls before many days the suffer.
ing will be greatly augmented
The intense heat has been a terrific
strain upon many, but
ITS EFFECT UPON CATTLE
has been simply appalling. With.
out pasture to browse upon or pools
in which to stand during the hot
hours of the day, the poor beasts
have become so emaciated as to be
wholly unmarketable. The farmers
in the dairy districts have, in some
instances, been compelled to feed
and water their cows from their own
larder. In other places forest trees
have been telled and dragged to the
pastures and the cattle turned loose
to browse upon the leaves. Hun.
dreds Of cows are being killed and
shipped to market for a mere pit
lance. At Winslow, ILL.,, one farm
er bought ten head of cattle last
January at $50 per head. When
he offered to sell the entire herd
last week for 500 he could not find
a purchaser. Farmers in this dis
trict have already turned their cat
tie loose to feed on the crops. In
some places fences have been run
through the cornfelds and the
starving cattle permitted to feed
upon the leaves and stalks. When
these have been eaten the fences
are extended, until the entire fields
have been eaten clean. Added to
all the miseries attending the great
drought is the
CONSTANT FEAR OF FIRE.
The tall grass of the pralries is
dead, the fields are ready to burst
| into flames, and leaves lie in heaps
in the forests. A spark starts a
| fire, and the clustering Sahara.like
winds fan the flames into a confla-
grafton. Already the land encom-
passed by the boundaries has been
blackened by wild fires. In some
towns the people are often called
out three or four times a day to
fight the flames.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRES HAVE BEEN
RAGING.
For many days at Kenosha, Ra-
cine and Walworth counties in Wis.
consin, thousands of acres have
been swept by the flames and the
loss to farmers in hay, fencing and
buildings is very great. Above
Madison the boys are burning
fiercely and the pungent smoke
hangs over the country for miles
around. The northern Illinois fires
are so numerous that the farmers
have plowed the ground about their
buildings in order to check the
speed of the flames. Should the
drought remain uDbroken much
longer, incalculable ruin will be
wrought by the fires which spring
up in unexpected places, and the
most mysterious manner. In some
parts of the district the drought is
so terrible that butter melts and
walnuts have fallen from the trees
Potatoes when taken from their
beds of ashes look like crab apples
They are wrinkled and spongy and
unfit for use. There is also great
scarcity of milk, owing to the ina
bility of cows to find nutritious
food.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH, Aug. o.
Forest fires are raging here fearful
ly in the northern part OF Kent
county. At Sand Lake the fire got
into the pine slashing, and for some
time came near devOuring the vii
lage. Farm.houses and buildings
adjacent to the fire we're barely
saved by heroic efforts. The woods
and fiaIda in evarv direction about